In August 2010 three Maidenhead United fans were banned from attending home games, by a kangaroo court, for crimes they didn't commit.These men promptly encountered a jobsworth security blockade, and so escaped to the non-league underground.Today, still stigmatised by the MUFC Ltd hierarchy, they survive as supporters of fancy.If you enjoy a train away day - and if you can find them - then maybe you can share a drink with ... the K-team!

Thursday, 30 November 2017

2017/18 Diary ~ November

Colchester United in 1960 was the last time that we'd played a league side in the FA Cup, prior to Aldershot in 2011 (and some people - me included - question whether the Shots qualified as a bonafide league club); remember that 51-year barren spell whenever someone comments on our supposed abundance of recent good fortune #abouttime

Verging on the ridiculous, meanwhile, was Macleod (M)'s tale: he watched the draw live on an iPad in a hotel bar, whilst on holiday in Dubai, and apparently predicted that we'd get an away tie at the Ricoh Arena … just weeks after ending a 13-year stint as a Ricoh employee!

Eleven:eleven train from Reading - with plenty of Magpies on it; the blokes next to us cracked open a bottle of port! - arrived into Coventry just after twelve:thirty (slightly late) and preceded taxis to the excellent Dhillon's Brewery (close to the ground; highlight of the day)

New #1 in the 'biggest ground I've seen Maidenhead play at' stakes: the Ricoh's 32,609 capacity slightly ahead of the 30,500 seats at Stadium MK (where we lost 4-1 in a B&B Cup tie on a bitterly cold night in December 2007; Darti Brown scored a wonder goal, 263 saw it)

Thoroughly underwhelming experience: only James Comley really did himself justice;Harry Pritchard should've opened the scoring but shot weakly at the keeper (and, generally, didn't look 100%); sloppy defending for both goals (the second, just before half-time, was particularly deflating); Alan Massey went down, clutching his face, rather easily (regardless, I thought that their player was somewhat fortunate to escape with a yellow card); Adrian Clifton should've halved the deficit, with time remaining for a Port Vale-esque equaliser, but blazed over; pathetic home attendance (just 3,370 in total, >20% were away fans); decent Magpie turnout (716) - a modern-day record - and plenty of effort from the Youth, in terms of noise, although they were at the front and the acoustics were, like the view, much better towards the back

Roamed the city centre streets - pretty grim - to find a half decent post-match pub: the Castle Grounds (£11.80 for four pints of Pure UBU, served by an attractive redheaded barmaid; a porcelain Christmas decoration smashed in celebration by accident)

You'd have been forgiven for thinking that we were in a Third World country, judging by the state of Coventry city centre the trains on the way home; symbolic of a disappointing day in general (Wrexham away green lit for Saturday 2nd December, as originally scheduled, the silver lining.)

Game of Thrones binge (most of Series 1); the wife was more or less recovered from a bout of tonsillitis but now the little man's nose was doing more running than Harold Odametey, while my throat was on fire < insert reference here to one of Daenerys Targaryen

's dragons >

A surprise to me that there was no late cameo off the bench from Sean Marks, at Coventry last weekend, returning as he was after a prolonged absence through injury; disconcerting, therefore, that he wasn't even listed among the substitutes for the Head derby

Even though I'm a fan of his, Christian Smith replacing James Comley at the break was not a substitution that inspired much confidence of a barnstorming comeback (Presumably more to that change than meets the eye.)

Home form has been excellent, so this result - let alone the score - was as unexpected as it was unwelcome

Ebbsfleet in April was the last time that we'd been defeated at York Road on a Saturday (P7 W4 D3 F14 A8) - and 13th in the table is not to be sniffed at - but …

As much as being disappointed at not getting a result at Coventry does indeed show how far we've come, looking beyond the occasion - FA Cup 1st Round tie at an impressive stadium vs relatively illustrious opponents - I don't think that the players did themselves justice last Sunday; following that underwhelming performance with a comprehensive home defeat vs a side below us in the table - albeit one that has improved of late under a new manager - compounds rather than alleviates a sense of let down

Dave Tarpey has been replaced - perhaps only temporarily and insofar as such a prolific goal scorer ever can be - but there's now a Dean Inman-shaped hole in an already stretched squad and, if Sean Marks is going to miss more time, I think we need another #9 as well

Kingfield an intriguing stadium, not least the relatively gigantic stand which Woking Borough Council helped pay for; I was also told by a group of home supporters, over pints of Cardinal Gold in the bar one year, that WBC enforced a Compulsory Purchase Order - and subsequently demolished some houses - as part of a phased plan to prepare the ground for League football #hearsay

I've previously wondered if the reverse could happen re RBWM and York Road, i.e. the Council issuing a CPO on the football ground to build houses (or, more likely, flats); as it is, Shanly getting closer

Game of Thrones has been a near permanent fixture on our TV, in the evenings, over the past week (we've nearly finished Series 3); I was beginning to think that the House of Stark's oft-repeated motto - Winter Is Coming - could also apply to East Berkshire's finest, but perhaps that's me being something of a Negative Ned(Match highlights here)

Team sheet missing both James Comley and Adrian Clifton - not even among the substitutes - but at least Sean Marks was back in the starting line-up (Craig surmised, in the car on the M3, that Marks only appeared on the bench at Coventry so we could name the full quota of subs)

Less said about our finishing the better: Moses Emmanuel (twice) and Marks missed very presentable chances, and so a solitary strike from Sauce - MoM, for me, ahead of Jake Goodman and Christian Smith - was all that we had to show for a dominant first half performance worthy of a four or five goal lead

Easy decision for the referee to award us a penalty - converted by Harry Pritchard - shortly after the break, although this was preceded by a clear push from Sam Barratt on Gavin Hoyte, and was followed by a yellow rather than a red card for the ex-Arsenal defender, who tripped Barratt when he had NO keeper to beat (the aforementioned push had caused Hoyte to clatter into Graham Stack, outside the box); the ref wasn't the sole reason why we lost didn't win this game - our woeful finishing was, IMO, the primary cause - but he did get some big calls wrong (see also: no free kick for Maidenhead nor red card for Stack, after he'd handled on the floor outside his area, and James Mulley being shown a yellow card before, 30 seconds later, a red - no second yellow - after inadvertently catching Hoyte with a high foot)

I've said before that our squad needs reinforcements and I stand by this assessment: Marks was blowing - understandably - long before he was subbed but, with Clifton unavailable, we had no #9 to replace him; his departure saw us struggle to hold the ball upfront, lose momentum, and drop far too deep

Game-changer, though, was Eastleigh getting a penalty - correctly awarded after Pritchard's ill-judged lunge - with a little over five minutes left; I think that the home side could still be playing now, without scoring, if they hadn't been given this lifeline

Hartlepool at York Road in August were the worst side that I'd seen us play, but Eastleigh were unquestionably there or thereabouts; to concede a 93rd minute equaliser to them - as inevitable as it was (missed chances, penalty, red card etc.) and as good a strike as it was - is painful to recall(Match highlights here)

My 100% record (3/3) in MUSA pub quizzes is no more, as Team KSG - me, Craig, Macleod (M), Macleod (P), and Willie T - could only manage second place in the Ark on Friday night; more importantly, money was raised for Maidenhead LFC (I agree with Murdo that we should attend one of their away games sometime soon), and other good causes, in a charity event that doubled up as a leaving do …

Aston Villa fan, prominent MUSA activist, and everyone's favourite wedding attirebeer sweetie magnate, Steve H is moving back Solihull way after 24 years in Maidenhead (apparently his first game at York Road actually came in 1970, while visiting a family member who lived here); I'll fondly remember all those long nights in the Anchor, putting the MUFC world to rights, and occasional minivan trips up the M40 ("KC drove us up") to watch Castle Vale play, but my abiding memory of Steve H - and this says more about me, I think, than it does him - will always be the tumble he took whilst celebrating Dwane Lee's penalty at Horsham :-D (All the very best, Steve H; don't be a stranger.)

Chatterton, Michael cropped up in conversation on Friday night and, as I tweeted the following morning, his MUFC Hall of Fame credentials are worth re-capping: 451 appearances (3rd all-time), 148 goals (2nd), 52 games as joint-manager (36.5% win percentage) #legend

Liverpool hotels were the focus of my attention, before a lunchtime shopping trip to TK Maxx; Craig might not be keen, but the Macleods and I are planning on stopping over - in Liverpool, not TK Maxx - after our game at Tranmere Rovers in January

Eye test at Boots for the wife, so Junior and I had some afternoon time to kill

Silly rule (League or Club?), that you have to pay full price for second half admission, meant that his competitive York Road debut would have to wait :-(

Free Advertiser balloons handed out as we instead joined the (sparse, at that time) crowd watching bands play on a stage outside the Town Hall; prelude to the Christmas lights being switched on (M@rl*w had Russell Brand, Maidenhead had some woman off Gogglebox; make of that what you will)

I assumed the Magpies had lost when, having returned to the car, I saw a tweet stating that we'd dropped two places to 14th in the table; a pleasant surprise, therefore, when I subsequently read about Jake Hyde's late equaliser (which sent Sutton, rather than Macclesfield, top)

Even though we're among the top goal scorers in the division (37 D&R, 35 Aldershot, 33 Boreham Wood & Bromley, 32 Maidenhead & Fylde) - and Adrian Clifton has impressed many with his conversion from midfielder to striker - I think it's fair to say that we've yet to successfully replicate the potent Marks & Tarpey partnership from last season; perhaps it's time to give Hyde & Marks a decent run?

Don't mention, though, our record in Wales: by my reckoning, we've played in the Principality on eight previous occasions - 75% vs Newport, the other games vs Merthyr - and the stat line reads P8 W1 D2 L5 F7 A15 (the only win - not witnessed by the KSG, incidentally - courtesy of a Richard Pacquette goal at Spytty Park on Valentine's Day 2009)